Description of Historic Place

The Warden’s Cabin is located in the interior of Mount Revelstoke National Park of Canada at the southwest corner of Eva Lake. It is a single-storey rectangular log structure with a medium-pitched gable roof and front porch area. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

The Warden’s Cabin is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical Value
The Warden’s Cabin is associated with the efforts by wardens at Mount Revelstoke National Park of Canada to fulfill the philosophy and mandate of the National Parks Service by preserving the wildlife and forest resources in the lands set aside by the federal government for park purposes. Its construction coincided with the completion of a road to the summit of Mount Revelstoke and the development of camping facilities adjacent to the Balsam Lake area.

Architectural Value
The Warden’s Cabin is a good example of a cabin built to a standard design with rustic character developed by the National Parks Service. The one room log cabin is a design indigenous to Western Canada, and common throughout the region before 1950. It exhibits good craftsmanship and use of natural building materials.

The Environmental Value
The Warden’s Cabin maintains an unchanged relationship to its original site. Its rustic appearance is compatible with the natural character of its mountain park setting. Its location on an elevated area near the lake enhances its picturesque appearance.

Sources: James De Jonge, Eva Lake Cabin, Mt. Revelstoke National Park, British Columbia, Federal Heritage Building Review Office, 87-048; Warden’s Cabin, Mt. Revelstoke National Park, British Columbia, Heritage Character Statement, 87-048.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Warden’s Cabin should be respected.

Its standard design with rustic character, craftsmanship and materials, for example: its simple, single-storey rectangular structure with a medium-pitched gable roof; its walls, raised in horizontal logs, dove-tailed at the corners and pierced by a plank door and two multi-paned fixed sash windows; its front gable end, encased in a porch framed by extended roof purlins and supporting vertical log posts; its simple, unadorned interior of exposed log walls and plank floor.

The manner in which the Warden’s Cabin maintains an unchanged relationship with its site and is compatible with the natural character of its mountain park setting as evidenced by: the ongoing relationship of the building to its relatively secluded site of mature trees and water; the rustic appearance of the building that is compatible with the picturesque setting.

Heritage Character Statement

Disclaimer - The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.

Eva Lake Cabin was built in 1928 as a warden patrol cabin in the interior of Mt. Revelstoke National Park at the southwest corner of Eva Lake. It appears to have been built using a standard design prepared by the Architectural and Planning Division of the National Parks Service, under the supervision of William Cromarty, head of the division. Today it is the property of Environment Canada Parks Service. See Building Report 87-48.

Reasons for Designation
The cabin was designated Recognized primarily for its association with the origins of the National Park, its simple rustic design, and its environmental significance.

One of the oldest structures in Mt. Revelstoke National Park, the cabin was one of four built prior to 1930 to assist the park's wardens patrol the park in order to protect its flora and fauna from the depredation of hunters and forest fires. Its construction coincided with the completion of a road to the summit of Mt. Revelstoke and the development of camping facilities adjacent to the Balsam Lake area.

Built to a standard design developed by the National Parks Service for use by wardens on patrol, the one room log cabin is of a type indigenous to Western Canada, and common throughout the region before 1950.

Its original site has changed little since the building's construction. The maturing vegetation surrounding the cabin has been well managed. Though a new privy has been located a discreet distance from the cabin, the natural character of the cabin's site is largely intact.

Character Defining Elements
The cabin derives its character in part from its simple rustic character and its log construction. The walls are raised in horizontal logs, dove-tailed at corners and perforated by a plank door and two multi-paned fixed sash windows. The front gable end of the cabin is encased in a porch framed by extended roof purlins and supporting vertical log posts. The original "rubberoid" roll roofing has been supplanted by a later shingle roof. Intended primarily to provide rudimentary summer shelter, the cabin contained but a single room. Its simple, unadorned interior of exposed log walls and plank floor has included no provision for heating.

These simple attributes are the key to the building's rustic character and should be carefully respected in any future efforts to upgrade or repair the structure.

Equally important to the building's character is the relatively pristine nature of the building's setting. Every effort should be made to preserve its relative isolation, and to ensure adequate levels of site management for the surrounding vegetation.